


Patton's War on Christmas

by logictron



Category: The Brave (TV 2017)
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Holiday, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 03:14:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13226946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/logictron/pseuds/logictron
Summary: A dog and a Christmas tree don't mix. One of them has to go.





	Patton's War on Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, a couple months ago, I saw this image on Tumblr somewhere: And so this little plot bunny was born. It's a little late because obviously Christmas is over but meh. I really just wanted to get this done.
> 
> I was absolutely not intending this to really be as Jaz and Elijah focused as it ended up being? I have no idea where my Elijah-muse came from. But that's how writing works, I guess. So obviously this is a pre-series fic, taking place last Christmas. It's a little Jalton shippy, because I can't not. 
> 
> Um, also, this is unbeta'd. And I've worked 6 days in a row. And I'm sick. So.

**Christmas 2016**  
They quickly established that there were two options: the Christmas tree or the damn dog. And there was a lengthy debate about it. Not that there was ever much of a question about who would win out. Because Patton--though he was a dog, though everyone had hemmed and hawed and referred to him as a 'mangy mutt' when he'd first showed up--came first. But they all used every possible opportunity to give Dalton a hard time. Especially when they came back from a particularly gritty mission in the DRC to find the newly decorated tree decimated, a mere carcass in the middle of the room, limbs torn off, ornaments (sparse to begin with) strewn about. And Patton, proudly laying in the midst of it all, tongue lolling, tail thumping.

"The dog hates Christmas," McG observed with an amused chuckle."One of them has to go."

"I'm voting the one who hogs the couch and scarfs the leftovers." Elijah bent to rub Patton's ears. "That means you, buddy. Sorry. I can handle a lot of things, but a war on Christmas ain't one of them."

"Hey now. Do unto others..." Preach scolded, earning groans all around.

"Listen, I don't care about any of that religious crap. No offense. I just like Christmas, okay? And that dog doesn't. 'S all I'm saying," Elijah continued,still bent to pet the dog,who's now lounging on his back, paws in the air.

"Poor baby," Jaz teased, hip checking Elijah on her way past. "But I'm telling you all right now, any of you picks the tree over the damn dog, I'll bet good money Top'll have no problem reassigning you."

"Why am I reas--" Dalton's voice trailed off as he joined his team, surveying the damage. "Guess we'll have to redecorate. Someone missed us while we were gone."

"Yeah, or someone's just an asshole," McGuire laughed, sorting through the stack of mail on the table.

"Yeah, you." Jaz shook her head and took up her customary perch on the counter, a sweating bottle of rootbeer dangling from her fingers.

"This is sounding a little too much like my house," Preach said."Think I'm gonna grab a shower before the 'War on Christmas' gets started." He glanced at Dalton with a raised brow. Good luck.

"Yeah, I'm calling it a night," McGuire agreed.

The room was silent for a minute, both Jaz and Dalton regarding Elijah and the dog.

"I know y'all are looking at me but if you think I'm cleaning up this mess tonight, y'all are nuts. Maybe Preach had a point I'm gonna go pray I find my Christmas spirit." Vallins straightened and picked his way through the wreckage, ruffling Jaz's hair as he ducked out of the room, earning him a smack to the shoulder because she was too tired to do much else.

"You really love that dog, don't you?" she asked, watching their leader sink to the floor next to Patton, whose tail began thumping again loudly, though he made no move to get up.

"Dogs love unconditionally. The only reason this dog is here is because he was waiting on his team to come back for him. They never did. That'd screw anyone up. Not his fault."

Jaz swigged her root beer thoughtfully. "Yeah. Guess so."

"They're never gonna let me live this down, are they? If I let the dog stay and don't put up another tree," Dalton asked.

"Not a chance."

"Alright,well.We'll see what we can do."

"God speed," Jaz laughed. "I'm gonna call it. Not that I don't want to stay up with you and the dog, but I"m beat."

"You did good today," Dalton said, now laying on the floor with the dog, much to Jaz's amusement.

"We all did," she countered, stretching and sliding off the counter.

"You know what I mean."

Jaz had taken two nearly entirely impossible shots in stride,cool as a cucumber.

"Yeah, thanks." She spared him a rare,genuine smile of appreciation, rolling her shoulders. "Night, Top. Don't stay up too late."

Dalton snorted. "Night, Jaz."

 

The next incident occurred less than a week later. And there wasn't even a mission to blame. But when the team trickled in to breakfast (Elijah's turn, some sort of ridiculous breakfast casserole that should've been inedible but was actually delicious), Patton was sprawled on the couch. The tree was in tact this time, save for one bauble, still in one piece, next to the dog. But the tree skirt was in shreds and there was definitely a puddle under the tree in its place that had no business being there.

"The damn dog pissed on the tree!" McGuire laughed. "Oh, man. The war on Christmas continues..."

"Okay, now that's just wrong," Preach admitted.

"Maybe he's Jewish?" Vallins suggested thoughtfully without looking away from the stove.

"Or maybe he's just bitter cuz Santa never brought him any presents," Jaz guessed, reaching over Elijah's shoulder to snatch a potato cube from the pan.

Dalton sighed, glaring at the dog. "Really? I feed you, I walk you, I let you sleep on the couch, and this is how you repay me? Great. Just...that's great,Patton, really."

Nonplussed, Patton yawned and settled more fully, flopping onto his side with a sigh.

"The dog has got to go," Joseph said. "At least until Christmas is over."

This time, no one argued.

 

That afternoon, with less than 5 days to go until Christmas, they got called away on a mission. It was as cut and dried as any of them ever were and Jaz found herself bored. The hyper-vigilance came as second nature these days and Jaz was more preoccupied with Dalton, who had been, well, mopey since that morning.

"What're we gonna do?" Elijah asked, scoping the street below for threats, finding none.

"Do?" Jaz adjusted, scanning the building across the street.

"About the sad puppy. And the dog," he replied, earning a snort from Jaz.

"I'm thinking on it," she replied finally.

 

Things were ordered before they went home. It took some finagling, but between her and Elijah, they managed. And if the continued, worsening mopey look on their commander's face was anything to go by, he didn't suspect a thing.

Christmas Eve saw all of them retiring early, after a not-so-traditional holiday dinner of Turkish fare picked up from a place in town, because no one felt like cooking. Jaz snuck into Elijah's room, the two giggling like teenagers as they waited for everyone else to fall asleep.

"He's gonna love it," Vallins noted, pleased with their plan.

"He'd better," Jaz grumbled teasingly, finally content that everyone was as asleep as they were going to get. She cracked the door and poked her head into the darkened hallway. "All clear."

As it turned out, transporting their 'gift' was considerably more difficult than they'd anticipated. Especially considering they had to do it quietly.

It didn't help that Patton attempted to get inside at every single opportunity. And he wasn't exactly quiet about it.

"You big baby," Elijah scolded. "Give us a few minutes. You're not destroying this one." Patton just whined and pawed at the floor, peering around Elijah, trying to figure out if he could sneak past.

"I swear, watching you and Dalton with this damn dog." Jaz rolled her eyes and poked her head out. "Go lay down." She stared the dog down for a full ten seconds before the malinois gave in and did as he'd been told.

"You never told me you were the freaking dog whisperer," Vallins stage-whispered, poking her in the side. Jaz barely contained a laugh, grabbing his hand.

"Knock it off. He just knows I mean business. Unlike you. You're as bad as Dalton."

They carried out the rest of their plan in amiable silence for the next few minutes until Jaz started humming under her breath.

"I'm sorry, is that...is that Jingle Bell Rock?" Elijah asked, aghast.

"Shut up, it's catchy," Jaz grumbled.

Within minutes, she was humming again, and this time Elijah sang along, the two of them working in perfect complement. Despite the physical labor of it all, they finished in under an hour, and then sat back to admire their handiwork.

"Not bad, Khan."

"We make a damn good team," Jaz agreed, fist bumping her teammate.

A whine came from the direction of the door, followed immediately by light pawing.

"Alright, alright." She got to her feet and went to let the dog in. The true test.

Patton entered cautiously, his hackles going up as soon as he saw what they'd done. He cautiously approached the new tree, sniffing at the heavy-duty gate encircling it. He turned to Jaz, his mopey gaze putting Adam's to shame.

"Sorry, boy," Elijah said, patting him on the head. "Promise you can help us when we're ready to take it down."

"You'll survive." Jaz rolled her eyes but smiled.

"Should we go back to bed?"

"And miss seeing Dalton's reaction? Hell no." Jaz sank onto the couch. "I'm staying right here."

With a chuckle, Vallins joined her.

 

Jaz woke up before anything happened, the hyper-vigilance kicking in as soon as she sensed a shift. Evidently, Patton sensed it too, because his head lifted from Elijah's lap where he'd been sleeping.

Seconds later, Dalton appeared in the doorway, rubbing his eyes. "What the hell?"

Vallins stirred beside her and opened his eyes at the sound of Adam's voice.

"Merry Christmas, Top."

"This...this is something. You two did this?" Dalton circled the tree, surveying the fence, the impeccable decorations, the twinkling lights.

"Yeah, well. It's not your fault your dog hates Christmas," Jaz replied, shrugging, though she couldn't quite keep from smiling at Top's obvious delight at their surprise.

Seconds later, McGuire and Preach appeared and suddenly, their quiet morning wasn't so quiet anymore. But, Jaz realized, that was sort of the point.

Sometime after breakfast, several hours later, Adam appeared behind her, squeezing her shoulder. "Thank you," he murmured.

"You've saved my ass a hundred times. This was the least I could do," Jaz flushed uncharacteristically, ducking her head and scrubbing harder at the pan in the sink.

"Saving your ass is my job. This is beyond that. Thank you. Merry Christmas." His hand slid to the small of her back just briefly before dropping away. Jaz's flush deepened. Vallins arched his brow at her but said nothing.

Across the room, Patton stared mournfully at the cage while McG and Preach played a round of pool.

It wasn't perfect, but it was pretty damn close.

**Christmas 2017**

In hindsight, maybe sending Amir go get the Christmas decorations out of the storage trailer was a bad decision. But Jaz decidedly wasn't up for it, Dalton wasn't about to be responsible for the fallout, and McGuire felt like maybe skipping Christmas this year wouldn't be such a bad idea. But Preach thought maybe they could all use a little cheer. Honestly, he'd kind of forgotten about the heavy duty kennel fence until Amir called for him.

"Hey Preach? You wanna tell me why there's a cage for the Christmas tree...?"

"Man oh man, do I have a story for you..."


End file.
